BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle
The chairman of the Montgomery County Rural Fire District’s board of directors says the Montgomery County Commission ignored a recommendation from the fire board calling for the reappointment of department coordinator Wilbur Schwatken.
County commissioners on Monday chose to not reappoint Schwatken to his role of rural fire department coordinator. Commissioner Larry McManus presented a motion to reappoint Schwatken, however his motion failed to garner any further support from commissioners Tony Fowler or Fred Brown, thereby resulting in a dead motion. Therefore, Schwatken’s reappointment automatically failed.
All other department chief reappointments were approved by the commission.
Randy Haymaker, chairman of the fire district board of directors, said the county bylaws state that the county commission is to make its appointment decision with a recommendation from the rural fire district board of directors. In late December, the rural fire district board voted 7-0 to recommend Schwatken for reappointment in 2009.
“They totally ignored it,” said Haymaker of that recommendation, adding that none of the commissioners asked he or the board any questions about that recommendation.
The board of directors includes one representative from each of the seven divisions in Montgomery County: Independence, Havana, Tyro, Dearing, Liberty, Cherryvale and Sycamore.
Haymaker said the rural fire district members were scheduled to discuss the situation at a meeting Tuesday night in Havana.
“Right now, we do not have a rural fire coordinator,” he said. “We’re without a chief.”
Department chief appointments typically are made in January, however they were postponed to allow new commissioners Larry McManus and Fred Brown more time to know the department chiefs and their responsibilities. Brown and McManus assumed the commission oaths in early January.
Since the appointments were delayed until April, commissioners have met with each of the department chiefs in executive sessions, which are closed to the press and public. It is during those closed-door sessions when commissioners are allowed to discuss the evaluation and conduct of employees and department chiefs, and if necessary, to make recommendations to an employee’s job performance.
Schwatken’s interview with the commission was held on Monday, March 9. According to commission minutes, Schwatken was not called back for a second interview by the commission.
Haymaker said he had been told that the commissioners did not call Schwatken for any further discussions following their executive session with Schwatken several weeks ago.
The way Schwatken was notified of his departure from the county fire department also rankled Haymaker. He said that following the commission’s decision to not reappoint Schwatken, Commissioner McManus asked commission chairman Tony Fowler if he (Fowler) should notify Schwatken. Fowler reportedly said that Brown would notify Schwatken, which, according to others who were in the commission meeting at that time, came as a surprise to Brown.
Sensing the situation of the commission chairman not wanting to notify Schwatken, McManus said that he would notify Schwatken of the news with a telephone call after the commission meeting.
